


Bilirubin, Kevin Day,  and other things Aaron hates

by eloquent_apollo



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Betsy adopted the twins, Garage Band AU, I actually played nice for once there is like no angst in this fic, M/M, band au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28223787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eloquent_apollo/pseuds/eloquent_apollo
Summary: Andrew’s obnoxious garage band, The bilirubin cycle, Listening to music when he studies, and as of late: Kevin Day.These are just a few of the things that Aaron hates. He hates that Andrew plays music when Aaron tries to study, he hates heamatology and the bilirubin cycle, and most of all he hates that Kevin Day makes him feel things he’s never felt before.
Relationships: Andrew Minyard/Neil Josten (background), Kevin Day/Aaron Minyard, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 52





	Bilirubin, Kevin Day,  and other things Aaron hates

**Author's Note:**

> For Alina who just send me an ask that said "Don't be shy, write me some KevAaron"  
> Also I just loosely based Aaron’s studies on what I studied in biology, even if my major is more lab related than Aaron’s, so sorry if this isn’t close to what Aaron studies lol, but it’s the closest I could get. I did take out my haematology book for this and it was fun to go through that again so.  
> This is un-beta'd!

Aaron has had it with his brother and his stupid band. Every weekend they go into the garage and practice their awful music and no matter how hard Aaron tries to drown it out with his own calm study music or by telling Andrew to please not practice when he has to study for tests they just keep at it. A few days ago they added a third member, he plays the keyboard and his name is Kevin. Aaron hasn’t had the displeasure to meet him yet, and he intends to keep it that way. He’s got an important haematology test to study for and their adoptive mother, Betsy, had taken Andrew into town so Aaron had at least some time alone to study. Knowing Andrew, Aaron figures he would only have a couple of hours before he’d take his band to the garage again. It wasn’t enough time to comb through all the chapters he had to rehearse, but it was enough to at least piece out the most important parts. His teacher, an older man who insisted everyone called him by his first name, was notorious for letting things about the tests slip. Aaron, who had desperately needed to ace this test, had gone into his office and had asked him for help with a subject he didn’t get and in return, had learned about half of the questions that would be asked on the test. It made studying in a house where he couldn’t get a second of peace and quiet to himself a lot easier.

Like Aaron had predicted, about 3 hours later the loud music started from the garage. He connected his phone to his Bluetooth radio and blasted his study playlist, but his brother’s singing cut through the relaxing beats like a knife. It wasn’t that their music was bad, it was just loud and obnoxious and it made Aaron angry to listen to for longer than 3 seconds. he wasn’t going to get anything done like this, and normally he would resign to the fact and stop studying instead, but he _needed_ to ace this test. Dealing with Neil, Andrew’s unofficial boyfriend, on a normal day was bad enough, but now when he actually needed something from him? That was worse. Still, it was better than the alternative of failing, so he bit the bullet and went downstairs to the garage.

“Oh hi, sweetheart. How is studying going?” Betsy asked when Aaron walked into the kitchen. He still wasn’t used to calling her mum. Although Betsy was so much better than his biological mother, even though he cared about Betsy a lot, he still loved his mother, even if she never loved him. Betsy insisted she understood, but Aaron always felt their relationship was rocky.

“It’s alright,” Aaron replied. He grabbed some bread and popped it in the toaster. He hadn’t realised how late it had gotten and now that he had put his books down, he realised he was kind of hungry.

“Don’t eat too much, or you won’t want your dinner anymore. I’m making pumpkin soup.”

Aaron hummed and took his freshly toasted bread. He decided against putting something on it, and instead sat across from Betsy to eat. She was reading a book, one of the types Aaron had tried to read once when he was 11 and understood nothing off. It was from some renowned psychiatrist and his opinion on dealing with severe childhood trauma, or something like that. Kind of ironic, Aaron thinks bemused. He feels like him and Andrew could have been prime examples in the book of how _not_ to deal with it. Their relationship had improved a lot since living with Betsy, but there used to be days where they couldn’t stand the sight of each other, where being in the same room was sure to end up in a verbal—sometimes even physical—fight. Those days were behind them now, but they still had their rough patches. The band practice was certainly one of them, because whenever it got brought up it turned into a fight. Aaron pulled bite sized pieces of his toast, before popping them in his mouth as he thought over on how to breach the subject of turning down the fucking volume of a guitar.

Betsy must have sensed Aaron's reluctance to go to the garage and confront his twin brother, because she put down his book and got that look in her eyes that told Aaron she had switched into counsellor mode. He looked back down at his toast, tearing off small pieces, until it was all gone and he had no other choice but to face her again.

“Why can’t he just be quiet for once? He knows how important this is to me,” Aaron said, before Betsy could ask what was up. Not that she really had to, they had talked about this before.

“Andrew is stubborn, I think this is his way of trying to force you out of your room,” she responded with a soft smile.

Andrew had never said it out loud, but he very clearly didn’t agree with Aaron’s self-implanted rule of studying before- well, everything. Aaron spends most of his time mulling over assignments and upcoming tests. He rarely ever went out to see his friends and now that he thought about it, he doubted the classmates he once considered friends were still that. The only real friend Aaron had was probably his cousin Nicky, who lived all the way across the ocean in Germany. Sure, Aaron was lonely and sometimes jealous of his classmates who had the time for fun things, but that was just the way it was Aaron didn’t _have_ time for anything other than studying if he wanted to make it into med school.

“I don’t need to be forced out of my room, I just need time to study,” Aaron said with a sigh.

Betsy said nothing else, so he pushed his chair back and stood up. He made himself a cup of coffee, which he took with him as he headed for the garage. It was quiet inside, except for the familiar murmur of Andrew and Neil’s voice. A third, unfamiliar, voice responded to something that Neil said and Aaron realised that it must be Kevin. He took a sip of his coffee, nearly burned his mouth, and opened the door to the garage.

“Yo, dipshit,” Aaron said, or, that’s what he _wanted_ to say. Instead all that came out was “Yo, uh….”

The third man caught him off guard, causing the words to die in his throat. He was tall, not just taller than Aaron (which wasn’t a hard feat to accomplish), but actually tall. He had long dark hair and piercing emerald eyes. He was handsome. Aaron felt a blush creep up on his face and a weird feeling he couldn’t quite place settled in his stomach. It made him anxious, so he forcefully ignored it and turned back to Andrew. If he didn’t know him any better, he would almost think that glint in his eyes was amusement. He wanted to reach out and smack him on the back of his head, but managed to restrain himself from actually doing so.

“Come to complain again?” Neil asked from a bean bag.

“Yes, actually,” Aaron said, managing to find his voice back. “I have an important biology test next week. Could you guys turn the volume down?”

“Can’t you just go to the library?” Neil asked.

“Or a coffee shop? Like a normal student,” Andrew added.

Aaron rolled his eyes. “I don’t see the problem with studying at home, or with just playing a little softer.”

“We’ll turn it down,” Kevin said.

Aaron huffed, glad to finally meet someone with some sense of rationality. Maybe Kevin wasn’t so bad as he had thought he’d be. He left shortly after that, even though he wanted to linger and hear them play. He reminded himself that Andrew’s band made garbage music, and there was nothing worth sticking around for. He took his well deserved coffee back upstairs and sat down at his desk, opening up his book and taking out his notes. Somehow he could’t focus anymore, all he can think about is Kevin’s stupid emerald eyes.

-

Kevin is there for dinner. Of course he is, because why wouldn’t he be? Betsy started the tradition of inviting Neil over for dinner after their band practice months ago, it would only be logical that the dinner invite would be extended to Kevin as well. Kevin and Aaron are seated next to each other, squeezed together to make space for Betsy at their dinner table that was made for seating three people, not six. Their elbows brush together and Aaron feels on fire whenever they accidentally touch. From up close Aaron can see Kevin has a black lip ring, which just adds to his good looks. It confuses Aaron that he finds Kevin this attractive. He isn’t blind, of course. He can tell when other men are good looking, but it never really made him feel like, well, this. Whatever that may be? Aaron has always thought that he was straight and the idea that that might not be the case scares him a bit. Logically he knows it won’t be an issue, because Betsy has no issue with Andrew and Neil relationship. He knows Nicky, who is literally married to another man, won’t have any issues with it either, and those are really the only people he has around him, but something deep inside still tells him that this is wrong. Maybe it’s a lingering after thought of all those years living with his biological mother, who spewed nothing but hate towards anyone who didn’t adhere to how she thought they should live. Maybe it’s because of what his classmates whispers in the hallways when they see Andrew and Neil holding hands together on the rare occasions that they are both okay with it. Whatever it is, it’s freaking Aaron out more than usual.

He has barely touched his pumpkin soup and he can feel Betsy’s eyes on him. Pumpkin soup is one of his favourites, especially when it’s Betsy’s homemade recipe, but now he has to force himself to eat. The uncomfortable feeling in his stomach takes up too much space and the food lands heavy on top of it. Aaron thinks he might be getting sick from the nerves that are wracking his body.

“Aaron,” Betsy gently places a hand on his shoulder.

He pushes his chair back and gets up, all eyes are on him now and Aaron’s beginning to sweat a little.

“I uh,” he says, very eloquently, before walking off to his room.

He hears Kevin asking Andrew if Aaron is okay, but Andrew’s response gets cut off as he goes up the stairs. He walks around his room, pacing in circles until he lets himself fall on his bed. He’s still restless, he can’t stop his fingers from moving in a weak attempt to let the nerves and excess energy out of his body. Normally it works, this time though, he reaches for the weed in his bedside table and uses that to calm himself down. It’s far more successful than the useless jittering, and with some newfound peace of mind, he attempts to focus on his notes again. His thoughts pool together in a mess of gibberish and his colourful notes have lost all meaning to him. Come to think of it, the notes are kind of funny looking. He rests his head in the palm of his hand, looking out through the window across from his desk. Whenever Aaron gets high it’s like everything around him is better, like the colours are more vibrant, and if he puts on music it just sounds better. Time isn’t linear when he’s high, what felt like mere seconds of looking out his window has been a full 10 minutes of staring.

“Aaron?” Betsy calls from outside his bedroom.

Shit. He gets up and hides his weed in his bedside drawer and throws open his window, hoping the smell doesn’t linger enough to worry Betsy. She is very against the idea of him and Andrew using drugs, because of the substance abuse running in his family. Aaron isn’t stupid though, he knows how to be careful. He won’t turn into his mother, not if he can help it.

“Yeah?” He calls out, as he sits down in his chair again. He opens his notebook and flips through the pages, until he finds where he left off. Behind him, Betsy opens the door and comes inside.

“Kevin and Neil are leaving. Won’t you say goodbye?”

Aaron shrugs and makes a dismissive gesture at the books on his desk. Betsy sighs but doesn’t pressure him to come out of his room, either. Sometimes Aaron thinks she’s disappointed in him for having such poor people skills, but he reminds himself he has the rest of his life left over to make friends. All he has to focus on now, is acing this stupid test.

-

Kevin comes to the house even when they don’t have practice. Aaron can hear him and Andrew talking in the room next to his. He puts on music to ignore them, but Andrew pops into his room every now and again to ask him for things. Aaron is pretty sure he is getting joy out of ruining Aaron’s study time and the next time he comes in to ask him for his opinion on an argument he is having with Kevin, Aaron’s had enough.

“I fucking had it with you! I don’t care about your stupid argument! I don’t care about basketball! I just want to fucking study for my test, okay?” He yells.

Andrew shrugs and leaves, but a few minutes later he turns on his music and Aaron can’t concentrate at all. He grabs his laptop, study notes and books and props them all in his backpack, which he slings over his shoulder before storming off. Downstairs he grabs a pair of headphones and turns on his own music, ignoring Betsy who’s asking him where he’s going, and heads outside. It’s cold outside, the autumn winds blows through his thin jacket and he shivers. There is a student café nearby and he considers going there to study, but the talking students will distract him, so instead he takes the long walk through the park and heads to the closest library. It’s small and most tables are taken, but in the far back there is one left over. Aaron dumps his stuff, puts on some soft music on his headphones and _finally_ manages to study in silence. It might be worth coming back here more often after all, he decides.

Hours pass and Aaron isn’t interrupted once, he gets through all his notes and makes flash cards for himself. He draws in the margins of his text books, copying the drawing of the heart and the different blood cells. Haematology has always been Aaron’s favourite subject, even if the bilirubin cycle was the worst. He always confused the breakdown of erythrocytes into bilirubin for urobilinogen, even though that comes later in the cycle. He absentmindedly scribbles a kidney in the margin of his text book, before switching to a flash card, muttering the question out loud to himself. Nobody pays attention to him or his muttering.

“The bilirubin passes through the liver, kidney, portal vein and the.. uh,” He turns back to his book to look up the answer, when a girl’s voice speaks up behind him.

“The bile duct.”

Aaron looks up to find a pretty girl standing in front of him. She has bright orange hair and countless freckles line her face. She has piercing green eyes, gorgeous, but a softer shade than Kevin’s. Her orange sweatshirt reads “Palmetto state cheerleading squad” with a big fox paw in the middle. Aaron looks back down at his book to see she is right. The third route is indeed through the bile duct.

“Biology major?” Aaron asks.

The girl nods and gestures at the empty seat across from Aaron, who pulls some notes away to make space for her. She smiles, takes out her own notes and sits opposite of Aaron. He’s a little worried she might try to speak with him again, but she doesn’t. Instead she focuses solely on the notes in front of her. Aaron is relieved and turns back to his own notes and flashcards. The silence is comforting, not at all awkward like he had always assumed it would be. He wonders why he never went out to study in the library before.

“Oh,” the girl mutters across from him.

He knows that he doesn’t have to talk to her, he doesn’t have to ask her what’s wrong, but he finds he wants to do it anyway.

“What’s up?” He whispers.

The girl looks up from her book, then hands it over to him. It’s the chapter on blood and urine analysis to detect kidney failure. There is a small paragraph highlighted, which Aaron thinks he could recite in his sleep by now. The plasma-urea concentration is one of the questions that his teacher had told him would definitely be on the test.

_To get an indication of the kidney function, a lab will run tests on Creatinine and Urea. Just like Creatinine, Urea can be measured in both the blood and urine. Urea is synthesised in the liver and derives from the breakdown of proteins. Next the Urea enters the bloodstream and it will be released through the kidneys. A heightened concentration of plasma-urea can mean that there are kidney issues, though there can be other reasons for the heightened plasma-Urea concentration as well._

“I don’t get it,” she complains.

“Why?”

“What else can cause a heightened plasma-Urea concentration? Richard said the question would be on the test, but he never explained it!”

Aaron takes out his own notes, looking for the one from that particular lecture. He is pretty sure they discussed it in class, he can still remember Richard saying they had to write it down because it most definitely would be on the test. After a bit of searching, he finds the notes he was looking for. In his own messy handwriting, he finds the answer to the girls question.

“A protein rich diet can enhance the concentration of Urea in the blood, as well as a bleeding in the stomach and intestinal tract. A change in the Urea-concentration can be caused by a handful of things, and therefore it isn’t a very precise determination of Kidney failures, unlike Creatine,” Aaron recites.

“Oh,” she mutters, quickly scribbling it down on some piece of paper.

“You’re Katelyn, aren’t you?” Aaron suddenly asks.

He doesn’t know why he only remembered her now. He had seen her at some of the school’s games before, and he had heard Richard chastise her on multiple occasions for her tardy note taking.

“Yeah. You’re Andrew, right?”

Aaron scoffed. “Wrong twin. I’m Aaron.”

She looked surprised, but Aaron focused his attention back on his studying. He didn’t want to talk about his brother, especially since he finally calmed down enough to study again. Sometimes he really couldn’t stand Andrew’s obnoxious behaviour. He knew, of course, that his misguided attempts came from worry over Aaron’s lack of a social life, but he doesn’t _want_ or _need_ Andrew to do that for him. He doesn’t want the distractions that come with having friends, he just wants to study.

“I didn’t know you two were twins?” Katelyn said softly, carefully, like she could tell Aaron was annoyed right now.

“Because neither of us bother to make friends.”

“Well, I’ll be your friend then,” Katelyn says, tearing off a piece of paper and writing down her number.

For some reason, Aaron takes it. He hides it in the back of his phone case, so he won’t lose it when he goes home later that day.

He spends the rest of his time at the library talking about their exam with Katelyn and when he gets home, he adds Katelyn’s phone number to his phone. They text for hours and agree to meet up again tomorrow for more studying.

-

That weekend, despite knowing the library is the better option, Aaron tries to study at home again. He texts Katelyn to let her know he won’t be there and sets up his stuff at his desk. It’s still early in the morning, so Kevin won’t be here for another few hours. Neil came over on Friday and stayed the night at their house. Thankfully they had been considerate of Aaron and had kept quiet throughout the night. Now they were still asleep, so Aaron returned the gesture and studied with headphones on, instead of putting on his radio.

The rare moment of silence can not last, of course. Kevin arrives 3 hours later and after having breakfast, the three of them go to the basement and start to play. The music that came from the garage was different, it was less hectic, it sounded more like the music Aaron listened to when he was on his way to his classes. It wasn’t Andrew or Neil’s style, so he wasn’t at all surprised when he heard Kevin’s voice. It was incredibly unfair that Kevin was tall, attractive, and a good singer. Aaron feels compelled to listen along, so he takes off his headphones and sneaks downstairs, until he is standing with his ear pressed against the garage door.

“ _We’ve got a lifetime to live  
_ _I’ve got my whole heart to give  
_ _What can I hold on to  
_ _If I haven’t met you?  
_ _All of our memories ahead  
_ _So many good times left  
_ _But what can I hold on to  
_ _If I haven’t met you, yet?”_

The song fades out and with it, so does Kevin’s beautiful voice. Aaron feels his heart beating in his chest, aching to hear Kevin sing more about whoever it is that he’s fallen for. He hears them muttering inside, hears Kevin sigh as Andrew speaks up, then Neil laughs. Suddenly, Aaron’s heart aches for something else. His heart aches for their simple friendship, to have people around him to laugh with, people to study with like Katelyn.

He hears the door of the garage opening behind him. He turns around and finds himself face to face with Kevin. He swallows hard, trying to remember how to form words. Kevin raises an eyebrow at him, making a gesture that Aaron doesn’t comprehend at all. He’s too focused on Kevin’s hand, his slender fingers and the pale scars running over the back of his hand.

“Aaron-“ he starts, but Aaron cuts him off with a quick. “Can I join you guys?”

Kevin looks at him, the look on his face doesn’t betray anything, but then he steps aside to let Aaron enter the garage.

“Thanks,” he says.

Kevin says nothing, but walks away to do whatever it is he left the garage for in the first place.

Aaron walks into the garage, ignoring the look Neil sends him. Instead he sits down on one of the beanbags and pulls his knees up to his chest. Andrew shoots him a look, silently asking him why he’s here. Aaron responds with his own look that means _just watching_. Andrew nods and turns back to Neil to have their own silent conversation. Aaron remembers days where Andrew and Aaron couldn’t even understand each other through spoken words, he remembers days where everything they said had jagged edges and poison, where all their words were meant to harm and maim. They’ve come a far way since then, thanks to Betsy, their therapist and Nicky. Aaron is grateful to have a somewhat normal brotherly relationship with Andrew now, even if the two of them aren’t exactly like other twins. Aaron has come to find over the years that he’s fine with that. He’d rather have this anyway.

Andrew and Neil finish their conversation and get back to their instruments. Andrew got behind his drums and played something while they waited for Kevin to come back. Aaron doesn’t recognise the beat he plays, but he likes it. Neil chimes in on his guitar and soon Aaron finds himself tapping the rhythm with his fingers on his legs, but when he catches himself doing it he quickly stops. The look Andrew sends his way tells him he noticed him enjoying their music that he has sworn to hate for the past month. Aaron glares back at him, but Andrew’s gaze is unwavering, it’s like staring at a brick wall and trying to will it to collapse. the wall won’t fall, and Andrew won’t turn away. 

Aaron turns his gaze to the door, just as Kevin comes back in. He’s brought four cups of tea, which means he made one for Aaron too. Kevin passes him a steaming mug of mint tea, he isn’t sure how he found out that was his favourite flavour. He doubts Andrew told him, he doubts Andrew knows and even if he did why would he bother to tell Kevin. He watches Kevin over the rim of his glass as he brings it up to his lips, steam curls from the glass and warms his face. It’s too hot to drink, but Aaron takes the time to warm himself up with it before placing it on the ground next to him. Kevin looks back at him and Aaron feels his cheeks heating up, but stubbornly attributes it to the tea. 

“You guys ready?” Kevin says, as he turns back to Andrew and Neil. Aaron thinks his eyes may have lingered on him for a second, but then mentally kicks himself for thinking something so stupid.

“Ready,” Neil answers.

Loud music fills the garage and Aaron for once thinks that maybe the music they play isn’t so bad after all. Andrew’s soft voice is barely louder than Neil’s guitar, but even so it’s so hypnotising Aaron can’t help but to listen as he sings about a never seen runaway. 

_"Talked about it all week, baby.  
_ _I'm tired and my voice is getting lazy  
_ _Knot it up, keep it down, lady  
_ _Before we have to do it all over again  
_ _Say you never sleep on Sundays  
_ _Say the Lord knows no stranger  
_ _Working on a never seen runaway  
_ _Be my heaven and I'll be your danger  
_ _Hey Mama, I'm gone  
_ _Can't catch a never seen runaway  
_ _Tell Papa, his son  
_ _Turned out to be a never seen runaway."  
_

The song ends shortly after with Andrew singing the final chorus. Aaron thinks that maybe he’s been wrong about Andrew and his music all along, thinks that maybe what they’re making isn’t garbage or painful to listen to. When they start packing their instruments Aaron almost feels upset that it’s over, but with one look at the clock he realises it’s 5 PM and he hasn’t done a single thing about his chemistry assignment yet. He quickly gets up, grabs his mint tea and heads out, but Kevin’s voice makes him stop in the middle of the doorway.

“We’re practicing at mine tomorrow, if you want to come?” 

Aaron turns around, all three people have their eyes turned on him. Aaron doesn't answer, just turns back around and hurries up the stairs. For once Andrew makes no other noise to distract Aaron from studying. He gets his chemistry assignment done in 2 hours.

-

Listening to a lecture about botany has got to be the worst way for Aaron to spend his thursday afternoon. He never liked botany as a subject, and has no intentions of picking it after this year, but the teachers still make him sit through it. As the teacher who gives botany next year excitedly talks about sclerenchyma and vascular bundles, Aaron thinks he sounds almost hopeful. Aaron almost wants to tell him that none of the students here care as much about Botany as he does, nor that they ever will, but he just sinks further back into his chair. When the teacher announces they are going to watch a short movie on the life cycle of a plant, Aaron takes out his phone as soon as the lights go dark. He’s planning on just playing a game of Sky Children, but then a text message from Andrew pops up.

 **Andrew:** Let’s play minigolf!

The automated message for a minigolf request tells Aaron that Andrew isn’t having much luck with staying focused on his criminal law classes either. At least Andrew has an eidetic memory, Aaron really has no excuse for ignoring his teacher.

 **Aaron** : You know I beat you last time, right?

Andrew reads the message but takes a couple minutes to respond. In the meantime Aaron has to listen to a monotone voice talk about the function of different plant hormones. The voice sounds as excited as Aaron feels to be here, which is to say not a lot.

 **Andrew:** just accept the game.

 **Aaron:** Fine.

Aaron starts the game of minigolf, zooming out to get a clear view of the entire field. The first round is never too bad, just a few obstacles and the circle that bounces your ball in different directions if you hit it. He makes it to the hole in 4 moves, then sends Andrew a request to play again.

 **Andrew** : Kevin was asking for your number.

 **Aaron:** Really?

His phone says the message has been read, but if Andrew is playing his move then it will take a while before he’s actually read it. He cant think of a single good reason for Kevin to want or even need his number. He never showed up to the practice at his house and they don’t exactly talk much when he comes over to theirs either. Mostly Aaron sits on one of the beanbags, sometimes he watches them play and other times he plays video games or does homework. Sometimes Kevin watches him, even when Aaron doesn’t look up he can feel Kevin’s gaze on him. It makes him nervous, his face flushed red at the thought of Kevin’s gaze on him.

 **Andrew:** _1 contact: Kevin Day_

Aaron’s pretty sure that that’s Andrew's way of saying _figure it out yourself,_ so Aaron adds Kevin’s number to his phone. He’s about to text him when his teacher snags his phone from his hands.

“Really Aaron? Playing minigolf?” 

His teacher pockets his phone and Aaron watches him in disbelief as he walks off with it. He hasn’t seen a teacher take someones phone since high school, but then again most of his classmates are smart enough to not sit on their phone during lectures. With nothing else to do but watch a boring movie about the life cycle of a plant, Aaron sinks into his chair and resigns himself to his horrible faith.

-

After class Aaron gets his phone back only to find that Andrew has beaten him in minigolf and sent him an invite to play chess. Aaron, despite knowing that Andrew used to be on the chess team, accepts and promptly loses in three moves. 

**Aaron:** fuck you we’re playing checkers next!

 **Andrew:** get fucked.

Aaron pockets his phone and makes his way to one of his favourite coffee shops. It’s usually quiet there, it’s located further from college so most students don’t bother to go there, they prefer to settle for the coffee shops either on campus or a short 15 minute walk away. He hasn’t been to the shop in some time, classes and tests had him caught up with homework and the combined stress of Andrew had him cooped up in his room until late hours. The two hour break he usually spent at the coffee shop was now spent sleeping in the library, but since Andrew has stopped his late night practice ever since Aaron came to join he hasn’t had to sleep in the library for a while. 

He walks inside the coffee shop and finds Kevin standing behind the corner.

“Welcome to—“ he starts. “Oh, hey Aaron,” Kevin says with a slight smile.

Aaron’s heart beats a little faster, but he promptly ignores it as he makes his way to the counter.

“Hey, Kev.”

“How can I help?”

“One black coffee and a BLT sandwich please.”

Kevin rings up his total, and as Aaron pays he disappears into the kitchen to make him a sandwich. It’s pretty empty in the shop, despite it being lunch hour. It used to be a lot busier, but now Aaron will be able to catch up on some homework. He doesn’t have to wait long for Kevin to come back from the kitchen with a sandwich and coffee in hand. He looks around the shop and then takes off his apron.

“It’s pretty empty, mind if I join you for a quick break?” He asks. Maybe Aaron is imagining it, maybe a stupid part of his brain wants it, but Kevin sounds almost hopeful.

“Sure,” Aaron says, trying to go for a casual noncommittal type of agreeing. Kevin smiles at him, small and fleeting but it’s enough to set him on fire. 

He waits for Kevin to make himself lunch, and then they take a seat where Kevin can overlook potential customers coming in. He leans back in his chair, catching sunlight dancing on his dark skin. Aaron let’s his eyes travel over his freckles, over the t-shirt that fits Kevin a little snug, showing off muscles from working out with Andrew twice a week. He feels Kevin’s gaze settle on him and Aaron looks up to meet his dark green eyes.

“I like your shirt,” Aaron says, needing an excuse for his staring other than _I like the way that shirt fits you._

“Thanks, it’s part of the uniform,” Kevin says.

Aaron looks back at the shirt and realises it indeed has the logo of the coffee shop on it’s breast pocket.

“Right… well… it looks good on you,” he says again.

Kevin snorts. “Thanks, maybe I should keep it?”

Aaron lets out a chuckle, before taking a sip of his coffee. “Didn’t take you for a thief.”

Kevin, honest to god, winks at him before putting a finger to his lips and Aaron can’t quite resist the roll of his eyes. Kevin laughs at that, it sounds soft and nice and it makes Aaron blush up to his ears. Kevin has to see it, but if he does, he doesn’t comment on it. 

They lapse into comfortable silence after that, where they eat their lunch and Kevin drinks some smoothie that he made in the back while they people watch from the windows. He used to do that a lot with Nicky, before Nicky started coming over and less and started looking worse whenever he did come over. They would make up stories of the people they could see from Aaron’s bedroom window, back when he lived with his mother and without Andrew. The quiet suburban mothers became secret undercover cups, their husbands became their targets and their children a cover story. Old couples became old spies and runaways that had assumed a fake identity. None of it could ever be true, but it was fun to imagine. 

“Did you ever make up stories?” Aaron asks, then when he realises Kevin can’t possibly follow his train of thoughts he adds, “when you watch the people on the streets, did you ever make up stories of what their lives were like?”

Kevin raises an eyebrow, then shakes his head. “I never really watched the people on the streets. I had my own things to worry about.”

“Yeah, but even like, when you were a kid? Me and Nicky, that’s my cousin by the way, but we used to just like, watch people and make up stories of what their lives were like…. Like for example, see that woman over there?”

Aaron points at a woman sitting on a bench, there is a stroller standing next to her that she rolls back and forth probably to soothe a crying baby inside. She looks tired, but she is on the phone and every now and again she makes wild gestures with her hand. Aaron turns back to find Kevin looking at his face.

“You’re not looking,” he huffs.

“No, I was!” Kevin says, but he turns to follow Aaron’s pointing finger in the direction of the woman on the bench. “With the stroller.”

Aaron nods, turning to look back at her as she hangs up the phone. 

“Realistically she is probably calling with her husband, or a boss or whatever, but what if she was actually secretly a boss of some undercover spy ring and she just got threatened to choose between the life of her husband or that of the entire world.”

“That would never happen,” Kevin says.

“Obviously,” Aaron agrees as he turns back to face him. “But it’s fun to pretend.”

Kevin shrugs and takes a sip of his coffee. “Andrew told me you’re a bio major?” 

“I am. You?”

“I don’t go to college. My dad has hospital bills he can’t afford, so I’m working here to make ends meet.”

Aaron frowns. “I’m sorry to hear.”

“Don’t be, I like this job,” Kevin says as he gets up from the table. Aaron glances out the window to see a herd of college aged kids heading towards the store. “Besides, I don’t need college. I’m going to make it big in the music industry. College will just be a waste of my time.” 

Kevin puts his half empty coffee cup down on the table and makes his way to the counter just as the group of students enter. They bring a gust of cold winter air with them, it makes Aaron shiver in his coat. He clutches his warm mug of coffee and turns to watch the people outside, making up stories in his head as he waits for Kevin to come back. All of the students take their order to go and when they leave Kevin returns to the table. He throws his coffee back in one go before sitting down again.

“Are you going to be at band practice tonight?” Kevin asks as Aaron finished his sandwich.

“I am.”

“Good,” Kevin says.

Aaron can’t stay much longer after that, so he waves Kevin goodbye and heads on back to his classes. Somehow he is feeling a little more excited to be home than usual.

-

Classes pass by in a blur and when Aaron makes it home he finds Kevin and Neil already sitting in their living room. Aaron is at least 99% sure that Andrew gave them both a key to the house, but he can’t really be bothered when they turned the thermostat on higher and he gets to come home to a warm house. He shakes out of his coat and throws it over a chair, then steps out of his shoes and abandons them near the table. Betsy had told him time and time again to leave his stuff in the hallway, but it was an old habit that died young. 

“Sup,” Aaron says, more aimed at Kevin than at Neil. He and Neil never got along well, he may have said some hurtful shit to Neil that he refused to apologise for and by now it was simply too late. Neil for his part seems to realise he isn’t the one being spoken to and makes himself busy by watching TV.

“Hey,” Kevin says from the couch.

Aaron sits down on the chair close to him and the three of them wait in silence for Andrew to come in so they can start practice. Every now and again a topic bubbles up in Aaron’s thoughts, something to start a conversation with Kevin, but he doesn’t really want to include Neil in it so he keeps silent and browses his phone instead until Andrew walks through the door an hour later.

“Good, you’re all here,” he says and goes to sit on the dining table. It forces Kevin and Neil to strain their necks to properly see him, but Aaron turns in his chair and throws his legs over the armrest.

“We got booked to play at Edens Twilight.”

“How, your band is shit?” Aaron says without looking up from his phone.

“Neil has money,” Kevin says with a shrug.

“Yeah, well Neil should spend that money on better clothes.”

Aaron doesn’t have to look up from his phone to know that Neil is glaring at him, but he does it anyway. He meets Neil’s glare with an unimpressed look before turning his attention back on Andrew.

“I mean, he isn’t wrong,” Kevin says. “About both things. We better get to practice if we want any chance at a second performance.”

Andrew says nothing but hops off the table, leading the way to the garage where they set up their instruments. There is a beanbag in the corner that wasn’t there before and Aaron gratefully sinks into it, leaning back to watch as the others do sound checks and other band stuff that Aaron doesn’t pretend to understand. He’s more focused on Kevin, who’s setting up his keyboard, running long slender fingers over the keys and testing a few of them out. Kevin is entranced in it, until he looks up to meet Aaron’s eyes. He feels his face flush red and he quickly looks away, staring at the posters on the wall. The sound of the keyboard tells him Kevin has gone back to playing and it’s safe to look back at the band, but he stays focused on the posters instead.

“Does your band even have a name?” Aaron asks suddenly.

He doesn’t remember if Andrew ever told him, he probably didn’t, they still rarely share stuff between the two of them.

“Eden’s monsters,” Andrew says.

Aaron turns to look at his brother, but he’s focused his attention back on his drums already. 

“That’s a good name,” Aaron says.

Andrew looks back up at him and Aaron sees something in his eyes that he can’t quite place. Happiness, maybe.

“Thanks,” Andrew says.

Aaron smiles faintly, just enough for his brother to catch it. He doesn't comment on it but Aaron could have sworn something in Andrew’s gaze softened, even if it was the tiniest almost barely there of a shift. 

“You guys ready?” Neil asks

Andrew and Kevin give an affirmative nod and they start to play, it’s a loud and energetic song. It’s something Aaron usually wouldn’t listen to but he finds himself tapping his foot along to the rhythm until his brother’s voice fills the room. 

_"Got into a bit of a state last night  
_ _Deleted every contact in my life  
_ _Built a fire in my mind, went back inside  
_ _The consequence is coming  
_ _I still have yet to learn  
_ _That every little bit  
_ _Helps the fire burn  
_ _It doesn't get worse, it doesn't get better  
_ _You just get old, it lasts forever  
_ Can't get happy, can't get sad  
 _It's hard to do  
_ When I hate everyone but you"

When the final chords of the song faint out, the bandmembers turn towards each other to quietly discuss how the practice went. Aaron watches them from a distance, not saying anything as they hush in their private circle. Aaron leans further back in his beanbag chair and closes his eyes for a second, not long after that Kevin starts to play a gentle tune on the piano. It takes a second before he registers it as the merry-go-round of life, but when he recognises it he can’t stop the smile that makes an appearance on his face.

“Howl’s moving castle,” Aaron says.

No one responds to him, but Aaron doesn’t mind. He watched the movie a couple of times with Andrew, it’s one of their favourite Ghibli movies. It was the only thing they had been able to sit down with back when they were younger, when they watched movies together before dinner was the only time their animosity was slightly on hold. Aaron keeps his eyes shut tight, as he slowly drifts off to sleep.

It’s Andrew who wakes him a couple hours later with a short shake, Aaron groans and turns on his side, pulling his knees closer to his chest. Andrew gives him a minute before he grabs him by the ankle and drags him off the bean bag.

“Asshole,” Aaron hisses before sitting up.

They are all alone, the lights are off in the garage and when Aaron pulls his phone out of his pocket he sees it’s already 7 PM. He also sees that he has a text from Kevin.

“Dinner,” Andrew says before leaving Aaron alone.

Aaron leans back against the bean bag and opens the message from Kevin.

 **Kevin:** Hey, we didn’t want to wake you. Performance is on Saturday at 10. Be there?

 **Aaron:** I’ll be there.

Kevin reads it but doesn’t respond, so Aaron locks his phone and heads to the dining table.

-

Andrew and Neil have gone to Eden’s Twilight often enough, but it’s Aaron’s first time going. He pulls up in his car to the club and he has to double check the address to make sure he’s at the right club. Most people are wearing leather clothes, everyone is in a mostly black ensemble and Aaron feels severely underdressed in his jeans and simple hoodie. None of his clothes are black and when he gets out of the car and into the line he can feel eyes on him. One guy in front of him even mockingly asks him if he didn’t get lost on the way to his mum’s house. Aaron ignores it, but takes out his phone to text Andrew that he’d appreciate a heads up the next time he sends him to a BDSM club. Andrew’s only response is “It’s not.” which Aaron is going to have to assume means this club is not a BDSM club, but as a woman in a full on harness passes him he sincerely doubts Andrew is speaking the truth. It takes him a couple minutes before he makes it inside, apparently Eden’s Monsters were more popular than Aaron thought, because a lot of people seem to be talking about them. Aaron did vaguely remember that Andrew had mentioned they had a YouTube channel and Aaron is somehow both glad and a little annoyed no one mistook him for Andrew yet.

When he does finally make it inside, Kevin and the others are already setting up on the stage. Loud music plays through the speakers but most people are gathering near the stage, eagerly awaiting the band to start playing. Aaron has to push to make his way through, but he is determined to make it towards the front, he just wants to be close enough for the others to be able to see him. He’s pretty sure he sticks out like a sore thumb though, because when he’s halfway to the stage Kevin raises his hand and waves for him to come closer. For a second his brain tells him that Kevin was looking for him, but Aaron pushes those thoughts away. The heat creeping up his face must be from the heat of all these bodies pressed so close to him, yes, definitely that. Somehow he makes it to the front of the stage and Kevin kneels down, leaning close enough that Aaron can feel his breath on his cheek. For a second the whole world just melts away, it’s only him and Kevin, the sound of music is replaced with the sound of his own heartbeat pounding in his ears, then Kevin moves so that his mouth is next to Aaron’s ear.

“I’m glad you made it,” he whispers. It sends a shiver down Aaron’s spine.

He tils his head so that when Kevin pulls back he can whisper into his ear, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Kevin looks satisfied before he stands back up and joins the others. Andrew and Neil share a look between each other and for some reason it makes Aaron anxious, as if he did something wrong and they caught him. Before he can dwell on it the music cuts out and Andrew’s mic sends a feedback through the quiet club.

“Welcome patrons of Eden’s twilight. We’re Eden’s monsters and this is our song King of the world. ONE TWO THREE FOUR!”

They begin to play like they rehearsed ages ago, people shout and cheer them on and Aaron gets shoved against the railing by moving bodies. He holds on tight, keeping himself in place so he can watch Kevin as he plays the keys. It isn’t a song Aaron has ever heard before, but he decides he quite likes it. Usually Andrew is the one who does the singing, but Neil and Kevin are just as good at it as he is and today Kevin was given the spotlight, his voice agile and resonant, something in it setting Aaron’s feelings ablaze. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the bodies pressed against him that made him feel this way, maybe it was just the magical effect that Kevin had on him. For their entire performance Aaron stayed where he was, staring up at his brother’s band, eyes transfixed on a certain pair of green eyes as they occasionally scanned the audience to meet his. Maybe Kevin was just as transfixed on him, maybe Aaron was considering jumping on the stage and kissing Kevin right here right now in front of all these people. As the last note faded out and people’s excited cheering slowly died, Neil, Andrew and Kevin shared a look between each other. Kevin was smiling, true and genuine and he saw something in Andrew soften again before he allowed the faintest of smiles back in Kevin’s direction.

“Eden’s twilight, thank you for having us! You can find us online as Eden’s Monsters,” Kevin said through his mic, before the regular radio turned on.

The spotlights died and slowly people began to neglect the stage, but Aaron stayed where he was, waiting for the others to take down their instruments. Kevin was the first to finish up and he held out a hand for Aaron, pulling him onto the stage and taking him to a small backstage area. Andrew and Neil remained absent, even though it really didn’t take that long for them to get ready to head back either. As Kevin pulled Aaron into a small room, he didn’t really think he’d mind if they stayed away a little longer.

“I know I already said it, but seriously, thanks for being here,” Kevin said as he sat down on the beaten down couch in the corner.

Aaron set next to him, pushing his knee against Kevin’s. He could feel his gaze on him, so he turned to face him. Kevin slowly reached out, gently cupping Aaron’s cheek, stroking his thumb over his cheekbone.

“Like I said,” Aaron whispered as he closed the distance between them. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Kevin pressed his lips against Aaron’s, he could taste the salt of sweat but he didn’t really care as he kissed Kevin back.

**Author's Note:**

> songs featured in this work are:  
> Yet by Duncan Laurance  
> Never seen runaway by Jay Kill & the hustle standard  
> Everyone but you by the frontier bottoms  
> King of the world by WAR*HALL  
> (Yes I know the music in genre is all over the place djsjsj sorry I went based off of lyrics rather than genre)  
> Anyway not me projecting my dislike of the Bilirubin cycle on Aaron (its not even that hard but…….. I just don’t like it)  
> Come say hi to me on my tumblr [over here](https://eloquent-apollo.tumblr.com/)


End file.
